Whoever told you that public schools do not teach direct comprehension is wrong. I teach comprehension in many different ways. First of all, I teach comprehension skills during oral reading, directed reading, and during language instruction. During oral reading I teach kids how to think about the character in the story and then this helps them recall events. We talk about the beginning, middle(problem), and ending(solution to the problem). During language they are given a simple story to read. I demonstrate how they find the answers in the story. They can underline the answers and then write the answers to the questions. During directed reading instruction I teach the above skills as well as setting, characters, main idea, etc. Hope this helps.

We also use Fountas and Pinnell for leveling. That includes scores for accuracy, fluency, and comprehension.

Lilacs

02-06-2018 04:25 PM

Thanks...I did not mean just public school, the assertion from other staff was first grades as a whole. I hope I did not offend. I did not know if most schools had the same practice since I have only taught in this state. In public, I taught comprehension, but we did not assign a letter grade. We did indicate comprehension mastery skills (retells story events, identifies story elements, etc.) However, I wondered how much time other teachers spent on the skill. It is not strong in this curriculum, so I do a lot of adding (similar to what you describe above). I really think first graders should have a daily opportunity to listen to a read aloud story. The difficulty is grading using a percentage. I guess I find reading developmental in nature (many above, on grade, or below level so what dictates an A) and I think many catch on a little later in the year but will end up in the right place to start second. I thought I was losing my mind. Glad to hear other teachers were disturbed by the comment. The other staff don't teach first and haven't for a few years...maybe it is something you forget? I think I am going to do more direct instruction with close reading lessons to teach whole group comprehension strategies. It is not reading if you aren't thinking. I like the underlining idea. Brainstorming aloud helps. Thank you for your response.

TravelingGal

02-05-2018 07:54 PM

Whoever told you that public schools do not teach direct comprehension is wrong. I teach comprehension in many different ways. First of all, I teach comprehension skills during oral reading, directed reading, and during language instruction. During oral reading I teach kids how to think about the character in the story and then this helps them recall events. We talk about the beginning, middle(problem), and ending(solution to the problem). During language they are given a simple story to read. I demonstrate how they find the answers in the story. They can underline the answers and then write the answers to the questions. During directed reading instruction I teach the above skills as well as setting, characters, main idea, etc. Hope this helps.

Lilacs

01-24-2018 06:19 PM

Firstly I would like to know how many first grade teachers provide direct instruction in reading comprehension. I am being told that most schools don't teach that in first grade??? I work at a private school with a strong phonics based reading program, that works for the majority of kids in decoding. However, we are required to give an actual percentage grade in oral reading. If I have a B+ student in decoding with C-/D+ comprehension skills what grade would you give. Public schools where I have worked always used a rubric or mastery skill list that was more developmental in nature. The grading system in the curriculum is vague and does not specifically mention comprehension or fluency, but I feel they are important. In third they give comprehension 25% and fluency 25% of the reading grade. Other teachers in the building are saying not to grade the comprehension at all....opinions or thoughts...Please
Thx